Sirona Strategies
Mitigating Risks and Maximizing Opportunities in Health Care Policy

Headquartered in Washington D.C., Sirona Strategies is an eight-year-old woman-owned business that provides counsel to clients across the health care industry. Regulatory, legislative, and market dynamics in areas of Medicare, Medicaid, marketplaces, health IT, telehealth, value-based care and social determinants are constantly changing. Sirona helps their clients navigate the landscape. “We are focused on the future of health care and how to enable new models of care at the same time we work in real-time to address the issues of the day,” said Krista Drobac, a partner in the firm.

The firm manages five advocacy coalitions focused on advanced primary care, telehealth, moving more clinical services into the home, increasing market reach of health information exchanges, and integrating social factors into clinical care. The firm also serves retainer clients such as health insurers, value-based care innovators, health IT companies and new market entrants.

“We provide a unique combination to companies looking to break down policy barriers that are impeding growth. We are subject matter experts with a deep understanding of Congress and the Executive branch, and relationships across the spectrum, including third-party groups,” says Krista Drobac, a partner in the firm.

Sirona is a lobbying firm, but they do not consider themselves “shoe leather” lobbyists focused on access to policymakers. Instead, they emphasize a broader strategy that includes policy development, mapping of client priorities to members of Congress and Executive Branch objectives, ensuring that aligned “fellow travelers” in Washington are well coordinated, and where appropriate, media messaging. Sirona has built a team with the skills and background to allow the quick identification and filtering of issues, the development of a nuanced strategy, and a roadmap of who to talk to and when.

The team has collective experience in the U.S. Senate, U.S. House of Representatives, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the National Governors Association (NGA), state government, and third-party influencers like the Better Medicare Alliance, the National Council on Aging, and the Healthcare Leadership Council.

This is a time when health care policy is changing quickly. Congress is considering extensions to transformative pandemic policies like telehealth and hospital at home at the same time that there is a rethinking of value-based care and our public health infrastructure. “Our firm works on issues large and small, but it’s all within the context of a bigger picture of where we are going in health care as a country,” Krista adds.

The company works with clients before during and after the government announces new health care policy. “We identify policy or operational difficulties related to the implementation of anticipated or proposed new policies. We then advocate around the changes needed,” said Kristen McGovern, partner at Sirona Strategies, adds.

Such a comprehensive service offering has enabled Sirona Strategies to work closely with a plethora of clients over the years. This diversity of clients allows the company to see trends that emerge in the health care industry. “We have been on the cutting edge of new developments in health care, working toward an interoperable, digitally-enabled, institution-agnostic, primary care-based experience for patients,” McGovern adds.

Further, Sirona Strategies is deeply rooted in Washington with comprehensive knowledge of health care advocacy groups and what they are working on. The company works as a liaison with stakeholders including patient groups, provider groups, think tanks, trade associations, and more. Apart from this, Sirona Strategies relies on media to bring the right message out to the public and produces several webinars. What really differentiates Sirona Strategies from other market players is its ability to operate as partnership to clients’ in-house teams, zeroing in on priorities, and building an action plan with accountable deadlines.

In a nutshell, standing at the intersection of health care policy, politics, and business, Sirona Strategies is helping clients identify all the threats and take advantage of opportunities in real-time.